February 22, 2023 - Three Great Alabama Preachers
Many of you may be surprised to know that politicians and preachers are often friends while on earth. They actually run in the same circles in their communities as well as around the state. It has been my pleasure to have known a good many Godly ministers.
During my lifetime here in our beloved state of Alabama, there have been some outstanding ministers, but three men stand out as legendary and will go down in the annals of Alabama history as the three greatest preachers of this generation. All three were Alabama born and bred. They had to have been born and chosen for their calling. Just to be in their presence makes you feel special. They are truly men of God. They are also true southern gentlemen with a keen sense of humility. These three ministers are Methodist Minister John Ed Mathison, Methodist Minister Karl Stegall, and Baptist Minister Buddy Gray.
I will begin with the youngest first. Buddy Gray has been the pastor of the mega Baptist Church in Hoover – Hunter Street Baptist Church – for nearly 36 years. Buddy Gray built this mountain of a church in the heart of Hoover. He is beloved by his throng of congregates. He exudes love and humility.
Buddy Gray grew up in Prattville. He knew at 16 that God was calling him to the ministry. He started preaching at rural churches and along the way he served as youth pastor at Hunter Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in the 1970’s. Hunter Street was in a dying section with an attendance of 120. Soon after they called Buddy to be their minister, he had the foresight to see that his church needed to be in Hoover, the fastest growing suburban area of Jefferson County.
Today, 36 years later, Buddy’s vision is a sprawling landmark campus with a congregation of 4,500 active members. It is one of the largest and most prosperous churches in Alabama. Leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention refer to Hunter Street Baptist Church as one of the greatest churches in America.
During his career, Buddy Gray has served at the state and national level of the Baptist Convention including two one-year reigns as President of the Alabama Baptist State Convention. He and his wife, Tricia, have been a true team in the evangelical building of this great church.
Dr. John Ed Mathison of Montgomery has rightfully been referred to as one of the greatest preachers in the history of the State of Alabama. He was born a Methodist minister. His father was a legendary Methodist minister, and his brother is a legend in his own right as a Methodist minister.
John Ed served 36 years as Senior Minister of Frazer Methodist Church in Montgomery. Under his leadership, Frazer grew from 400 members to 9,000 and had the largest Sunday School attendance for any Methodist church in America. At the time of John Ed’s retirement in June 2008, Frazer had eight Sunday morning worship services and its services were televised nationwide reaching about 40 million homes.
John Ed has been a sterling athlete over his lifetime. He was an all-state high school basketball player and an outstanding basketball player at Huntington College. He was consistently ranked #1 in his age division in tennis in Alabama and is in the Alabama Tennis Hall of Fame. He continues to write. I am proud to say that for the last decade his column and mine have been adjacent to each other in the Montgomery Independent.
Dr. Karl Stegall is a legend within the Alabama Methodist Church hierarchy. He is one of the best known and most loved Methodist ministers to serve in Alabama over the past 50 years. Stegall served with distinction at four separate Methodist churches in Alabama. He culminated his ministerial career as pastor of the First Methodist Church of Montgomery. He served as senior minister of this great traditional Methodist church in Cloverdale for 24 years.
Dr. Stegall remains extremely involved in Montgomery Civic affairs. He is an erudite gentleman with impeccable class and manners. He has the most melodious Black Belt southern accent. He is an avid sports fan and a great Alabama historian. He has a myriad of talents and uses them all. He has been a confidante and minister to a great many Alabama governors and Montgomery business leaders.
These three gentlemen are without a doubt three of the greatest ministers in Alabama of this century. I am proud to call them friends.
See you next week.
February 15, 2023 - Our Congressional Delegation Has Garnered Good Committee Assignments
For the past several decades, Alabama’s power has been centered around the U.S. Senate – primarily because of Richard Shelby’s immense power and influence. During Senator Shelby’s 36-year tenure, he chaired the Intelligence, Banking and Rules Committees. However, he became immensely powerful his last six years as Chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
Shelby practically moved Washington to Alabama when it came to bringing home procured earmarked funds to the Heart of Dixie. We received more federal funding than any state in America. National publications labeled Shelby the Greatest Pork King in federal history, surpassing the late Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia. Less we forget, Shelby also had a very respected and tenured wingman in Senator Jeff Sessions, who served with distinction for 20 years in the Senate. They were a great team.
In the halls of congress, and especially in the U.S. Senate, seniority equates into power and we had it. However, we who follow Alabama politics have been cautioning you that our day of reckoning would arrive in January 2023, when Richard Shelby retired from the Senate and that day has arrived. Alabama will never be able to raid the federal vault like Shelby has done. Fortunately, as he was walking out the door, he brought so much largesse home with him that it will take other states 10 years to catchup.
Under the U.S. Senate seniority system, it will take young Katie Britt about 10 years before she will have any impact and influence in the Senate. Katie Britt took office with zero years seniority and that places her 99th in seniority status in the U.S. Senate. Our senior U.S. Senator, Tommy Tuberville, has two years seniority. That places him 89th in seniority in the 100-member senate.
However, we have several members of our U.S. House delegation who are garnering some seniority and are emerging as powerful members of the lower body. Therefore, for at least the next decade, our power in Washington will be in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Jefferson/Shelby 6th District Congressman Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) has been instrumental in helping to garner extremely good committee assignments for our six Republican members of Congress. Palmer, who is a quiet, policy issues congressman, was the founder and leader of the Alabama Policy Institute prior to going to Congress. Therefore, it was apropos that he would gravitate to the 30-member Republican Party Steering Committee. This committee has emerged as a powerful entity in the past decade. They essentially chose the House Committee Assignments along with Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Congressman Gary Palmer will serve as Chairman of the House GOP Policy Committee. He will also retain his position on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. This committee has jurisdiction over healthcare, which is vital to UAB – the heart and soul of the 6th District.
Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) is our senior Congressman. He got to Washington at a very young age. He is now only 57 years old and has 28 years seniority. He is one of the cardinals on the House Appropriations Committee and is now chairman of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Resources. This committee will be very important to Alabama because of the biomedical research going on in Birmingham and Huntsville. If the Republicans maintain their majority into 2025, Aderholt is in line to become Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Congressman Mike Rogers (R-Saks/Anniston) has emerged as Chairman of the House Armed Service Committee. This is a very important coup for Alabama and an impressive appointment for Mike Rogers. The U.S. Military has a very large footprint and importance in the Heart of Dixie. Defense dollars dominate Alabama’s economy.
In addition to Rogers, two of our newest members of Congress have scored seats on the Armed Services Committee – Representative Jerry Carl (R-Mobile) and Representative Dale Strong (R-Huntsville). Both Carl and Strong are bright stalwart stars for our congressional delegation. They have also become close friends and allies.
In addition to garnering a seat on the Armed Services Committee, Jerry Carl has been placed on the Appropriations Committee. He will be a workhorse for his coastal Alabama district.
Freshman Congressman Dale Strong’s appointment to the Armed Services Committee is a great feather for Strong given the importance of the Redstone Arsenal and the immense amount of defense dollars in Huntsville.
Representative Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) landed an appointment to the prestigious Judiciary Committee.
Alabama’s lone congressional Democrat, Representative Terri Sewell, will retain her position as Chief Deputy Whip within the Democratic caucus. Sewell will also continue to serve on the powerful and prestigious House Ways and Means Committee.
The paradigm of our power in Washington has moved to the U.S. House of Representatives.
See you next week.
February 8, 2023 - Alabama Making Strides in Broadband Expansion
If you took a nighttime plane ride across much of the rural South in the early 1900s, you would see nothing but darkness on the ground below because electricity at the time was centered mainly around highly populated areas.
But through federal, state and private sector partnerships, electricity was brought to rural America to light up homes and power the products many of us today take for granted. Life without access to electricity is tough for most of us to even imagine but there was a time not too long ago when many simply did not have it. The same is true today of high-speed internet access.
Unfortunately, many homes, businesses, and communities in Alabama and across the country, do not have access to this essential 21st century necessity due to lack of broadband infrastructure – which you can think of as the highway that connects individuals and businesses to internet providers.
But there’s good news for Alabama. While states across the country are scrambling to build out the infrastructure needed to provide their residences with access to high-speed internet, Alabama is serving as an example of how to do it the right way.
Over the past few years, Alabama has been ambitious – and innovative – in the way that it has set the state up to deal with the buildout of broadband infrastructure. Governor Kay Ivey, the state legislature, and groups such as the Alabama Rural Broadband Coalition, which includes organizations ranging from Alabama Power to the Alabama Hospital Association, deserve a lot of credit for the success the state is currently seeing on broadband. Along with Governor Ivey, State Senator Clay Schofield of Marshall County, and State Representative Randall Shedd of Blount/Cullman Counties deserve accolades for their involvement with this expansion of broadband in our state.
To name a few steps the state has taken, in 2017, Governor Ivey issued an executive order establishing the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) as the state agency to oversee broadband planning and expansion.
Since 2018, Alabama has invested $64.1 million in state funding through grant awards supporting 100 projects through the Alabama Broadband Accessibility Fund. The state has committed to over $300 million more in state and federal funding for broadband expansion.
In November 2021, ADECA established a new Alabama Digital Expansion Division, which was created through the Connect Alabama Act of 2021. This act also created the Alabama Digital Expansion Authority to work with ADECA to oversee broadband expansion in the state.
In December 2021, ADECA released the Alabama Broadband Map and Alabama Connectivity Plan to guide the state’s efforts and recommend strategies to expand broadband. The map included months of collaborative work and the participation of 57 internet service providers to give a clear and accurate picture of broadband availability in the state down to the address level.
Recently, Governor Ivey awarded a multi-million dollar grant to fund a “middle-mile” broadband network to make statewide broadband service availability a more attainable goal throughout Alabama.
The grantee – Fiber Utility Network – will use existing fiber infrastructure and new infrastructure to create a middle mile network that includes almost 3,000 miles of fiber – including approximately 1,089 miles from electric co-ops, more than 1,000 miles leased from Alabama Power, and more than 500 miles that will need to be constructed. This is a big deal for the state, as more than 300 Alabama cities and towns with populations of less than 10,000 are within 10 miles of the planned path.
As late as last week, a crowning coup to our broadband expansion occurred when it was announced that the U.S. Treasury has approved $191.8 million to go toward expanding broadband in the state. This grant will connect 55,000 households and businesses to broadband.
Expanding broadband infrastructure so that all Alabamians have access to essential, high-speed internet is no easy task. It takes time, effort, financial investment and the collaboration of both state and local elected officials, private sector groups and others to successfully build out of the infrastructure needed to get Alabamians connected.
I believe that our state leaders and business community have been able to do that and have set up Alabama as a model for how to get it right when delivering broadband access to its citizens.
See you next week.
February 1, 2023 - Shelby’s Last Hurrah Will Benefit Alabamians for Generations
Richard Shelby’s last week as our United States Senator was poetically amazing.
The nation watched as he gave his farewell address to the Senate. His speech was followed by a tribute from his longtime friend Senator Patrick Leahey. Senator Shelby and Senator Leahey from Vermont are best friends and co-chaired the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee together for their final six-year terms, which ended January 3, 2023. They walked out together after a lasting three decade partnership.
The national media made note of the fact that Leahey, a Democrat, and Shelby, a Republican, were the last vestiges of bipartisanship in Congress. They worked together congruently to get things done for the nation and yes primarily for the states they represented. Shelby, who served 36 years as our senator, retired at 88 last month.
To say that he went out with a bang would be a dramatic understatement. As he was making his farewell adieu speech, he and Leahey were crafting their final federal budget. The budget was passed the next day, two days before Christmas. When the experts discerned the 4,000 plus page document, it revealed that Richard Shelby had again played Santa Claus to the people of Alabama. He not only brought most of the money from Washington to Alabama, practically speaking he brought the entire North Pole and Rudolph and all of the reindeer to the Heart of Dixie as he was walking out the door of the U.S. Senate.
The national media dubbed Shelby the “Greatest King” of earmarked procured money for their state in history. Indeed, the amount of federal dollars Senator Shelby brought home to our state as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee is historical. He probably surpassed the previous “King of Pork” for their state, the late Robert Byrd of West Virginia.
In his last hurrah, Senator Shelby appropriated a mind boggling $660 million of extra earmarked dollars to our state. Folks, that is quite an amazingly, unfathomable, incomprehensible, Christmas gift for our state.
As I was exchanging Christmas greetings with a state senator who is a close friend, I commented about Shelby’s departing $660 million Christmas gift to the state. He quietly commented, “Flowers, that is over 25 percent of our entire state General Fund Budget.” However, if you dig deeper into the federal budget that Shelby passed, his $660 million is also met with upgrades of funds Shelby allocated in previous years to amount to $4 billion. That is more than the entire State of Alabama’s annual budget. Every part of Alabama was showered with Shelby’s gifts, which will make generational changes to our state.
In Huntsville alone Shelby has played a pivotal role in shaping this Tennessee Valley area into the science, space, and technology capital of the south, if not the nation. In his final hurrah, the Huntsville Redstone area received funds for Army research weaponry, a space launch system, nuclear thermal propulsion for the Marshall Space Flight Center, construction of a new FBI Headquarters, which Shelby moved from Washington to the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, and several other new buildings at the Redstone Arsenal.
Shelby earmarked a great deal of federal money for his home area of Tuscaloosa including millions for new buildings and education centers for the University of Alabama, funds for a new bridge, and millions for the Tuscaloosa airport.
He took care of the Montgomery/Wiregrass area, which is military laden for years to come. This area received multi-millions in new money for Ft. Rucker for flight training and Air Surface Missiles, along with millions for the Hellfire missiles made in Troy.
There is over a billion dollars going to UAB for biomedical research and new buildings. Shelby has been instrumental in transforming UAB into one of the most pronounced medical research institutions in the nation.
He took care of Mobile for generations to come. There are millions of earmarked funds going to the Port City. In addition, Shelby completed his mission of building Alabama a new deeper and wider Port with a $200 million dollar appropriation for the Alabama State Port Authority.
In my 2015 book, Of Goats and Governors: Six Decades of Alabama Political Stories, I have a chapter entitled “Alabama’s Three Greatest Senators, John Sparkman, Lister Hill and Richard Shelby. If I were writing that book today, Richard Shelby would be alone as Alabama’s greatest United States Senator by far.
See you next week.
January 25, 2023 - Legislature Organizes for Quadrennium
The legislature had their every four year organizational session earlier this month. It is exactly what the title states, they are organizing for the next quadrennium of lawmaking. They officially chose their leadership and adopted the rules for the two chambers.
The 105 member House of Representatives and 35 member State Senate are elected for four-year terms the same as the governor and other constitutional offices. However, unlike the governor who was sworn in on Monday, January 16, which is as set out in the state constitution, the legislature takes office the day after they are elected in November.
The state House of Representatives will have 77 Republicans and 28 Democrats. That is a veto proof, bulldozer shoving, anything you want supermajority. The Democrats have very little say with those overwhelming numbers.
Two days after they were elected in November the 77 member Republican majority met in a private caucus meeting in Montgomery and selected their leadership. Therefore, the vote for Speaker of the House two weeks ago was simply a formality. The House has chosen Representative Nathaniel Ledbetter to be the Speaker of the House. Speaker Ledbetter hails from Rainsville in DeKalb County. He is a former Mayor of Rainsville. He has only been in the House of Representatives for eight years, having been first elected in 2014. He was chosen to be the majority leader in the House in his freshman year. He was close to the former Speaker McCutcheon and he served on both the powerful agenda setting Rules Committee, as well as the Ways and Means Education Budget Writing Committee.
Representative Chris Pringle of Mobile has been chosen to be Speaker Pro Tem of the House, which is the second highest position within the body. He has served previously for 16 years in the House from the Port City. He succeeds fellow Mobilian Victor Gaston in this post.
There are two young stalwarts, who will be serving in Republican Party positions within the House. Representative Scott Stadthagen of Decatur will be the new House Majority Leader. Representative Wes Kitchens of Arab will serve as the Republican Leadership Caucus Vice Chair. Representative Debbie Wood from the Valley will serve as the Republican Caucus Secretary/Treasurer. The three most powerful posts in the House are the chairmanships of the two money committees and the agenda setting Rules Committee.
Representative Danny Garrett of Trussville in Jefferson County will continue to Chair the Ways and Means Education Budget Committee. Representative Rex Reynolds of Huntsville will be the General Fund Ways and Means Chairman. Reynolds replaces longtime Ways and Means Chairman Steve Clouse of Ozark. Representative Joe Lovvorn of Auburn will be the new Rules Committee Chairman. Representative Jim Hill of St. Clair will chair Judiciary. He is a former circuit Judge and a veteran of the House. All of these House leadership positions are held by Republicans. To the victor goes the spoils.
The Democrats have a veteran and sterling team heading their Caucus Leadership in the House. Anthony Daniels of Huntsville will be the Democratic Minority Leader. Barbara Drummond of Mobile will be the Caucus Chair. Mary Moore of Birmingham will be the Vice Chair and Kelvin Lawrence of Hayneville will be Secretary/Treasurer of the Democratic Caucus.
The 35 member Alabama State Senate returns almost intact with their continuity and quality leadership. They will dominate and provide a stable State of Ship to help lead the state. Republicans control this upper chamber to the same degree that the GOP members do in the House. Republicans outnumber Democrats 28 to 7 in the Senate.
State Senator Jabo Waggoner of Jefferson County begins his 50th year in the legislature. This is a state record. He is definitely destined for the state history books. Jabo will continue to Chair the powerful Rules Committee.
Greg Reed of Walker County will be Pro Tem of the Senate again. The Majority Leader will again be Clay Scofield of Marshall County. The two money committee chairmen will continue to be in charge of how the state revenues are spent. Senator Arthur Orr of Decatur will chair Finance and Taxation/Education. Senator Greg Albritton of Escambia will chair Finance and Taxation/General Fund. These two men will be very powerful. Popular state Senator Will Barfoot of Pike Road will chair Judiciary in the Senate. Senator Clyde Chambliss of Prattville has become a stalwart leader in the Senate. He will be Majority Whip. Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth presides over the Senate.
The Regular Session begins in early March.
See you next week.
January 18, 2023 - Inauguration Day
The Inauguration of our Alabama Constitutional officials was Monday. Our state constitution calls for the inauguration to be held on the third Monday in January. As you would expect and as Almanac’s suggest, it is usually a cold day. Over the years I have had countless folks harken back to their high school band experiences of marching in the Inaugural Parade, especially ladies who had been majorettes. They had to march and twirl a baton in 20 degree weather with skimpy, legless, bathing suit style attire. It left them with a lasting indelible memory of an Alabama Gubernatorial Inauguration.
Mind you, I was not there, but every old timer who has talked politics with me over the years and who have seen a good many inaugurations, will remark that the January 1963 George Wallace initial inauguration as governor was the coldest. There was a lot of frost bite that day. However, the inaugural address from George C. Wallace was hot and heavy. That was the day that Wallace threw down the gauntlet and declared “Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.” That was exactly 60 years ago.
A lot has changed since that day. It was during the Wallace era that the Civil Rights movement changed the political landscape of the nation and especially in the south. Wallace was an integral part of that historical era. He watched it all unfold from his Goat Hill office overlooking Dexter Avenue and he was the reason for a lot of the bloodshed. Every time I see an inauguration on the Capitol steps, I reminisce about the history that has been made in that block of Dexter Avenue in Montgomery.
The men who wrote Alabama’s overtly racist 1901 Constitution and the crowd that howled in defiance as Wallace made his 1963 declaration, would marvel at the change and diversity of today’s Alabama. It is poetic and ironic that this year’s Inauguration Day, January 16, 2023, was on the same day as Martin Luther King Day, a state and national holiday.
Kay Ivey grew up in the heart of the Wallace Era in Wilcox County. She cut her political teeth campaigning for the Wallaces. She was especially involved with Lurleen Wallace’s 1966 governor’s race when she was a student at Auburn University. After Auburn she worked for a while in Banking and teaching in Mobile. She began her Montgomery career as the reading clerk in the Alabama House of Representatives under the tutelage of Speaker Joe McCorquodale. Black Belters, like McCorquodale, controlled the House and the Senate. Kay Ivey’s melodious, pronounced Black Belt accent drew folks’ attention to her reading even the most mundane legalese for hours on end. She later became associated with the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. As their Public Relations and Governmental Affairs Director, she learned the legislative process. She entered the political arena in 2002, when she was elected State Treasurer. She served eight years in that post. She was then elected Lt. Governor in 2010 and reelected in 2014. In the middle of her second term, she became Governor after Dr. Robert Bentley vacated the governor’s office. She served out the last 18 months of his term and was elected in her own right as Governor of Alabama in 2018. She was reelected, overwhelmingly, last year. If Kay Ivey finishes out this four year term she will have been Governor of Alabama longer than anyone else besides George C. Wallace. She is the first woman to be elected as a Republican. She is the second female governor, the first being her idol, Lurleen Wallace, 56 years ago.
Also inaugurated with Governor Kay Ivey were Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth, Attorney General Steve Marshall, State Treasurer Young Boozer, Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate, Secretary of State Wes Allen, and State Auditor Andrew Sorrell.
Jeremy Oden and Chip Becker were sworn in for four-year terms on the Public Service Commission.
Two Supreme Court Justices, Kelli Wise and Greg Cook, were sworn in for six-year terms in a special investiture last Friday. Justice Kelli Wise was sworn in for her third term. She has served 12 years on the Supreme Court and was on the State Court of Criminal Appeals for a decade prior to being elected to the high court. Justice Greg Cook was sworn in for his initial term on the high tribunal. He is a well-qualified and conservative jurist, who will fit in well on the Supreme Court.
It was a big day in Alabama politics.
See you next week.
January 11, 2023 - Women Rule in Alabama Politics
For many years, Alabama has been ridiculed in national publications for having fewer women in political leadership positions than other assumed to be progressive states. States like Colorado, New York and California were lauded for having an inordinate number of females in public office. Well, folks, take a cursory look around at Alabama’s political landscape, and it is a new day in the Heart of Dixie, and unlike the above mentioned liberal states our slate of women leaders are conservative Republicans.
Our top two most powerful leaders in the state are Governor Kay Ivey and U.S. Senator Katie Britt. If you include PSC President Twinkle Cavanaugh into the mix, then the three most powerful and popular political leaders in the Heart of Dixie are women Republicans. You can eat your heart out Colorado.
This day did not just happen. These three women have been on the scene and the horizon for a while, and arose the old fashioned way by rising through and within the system to get to the top of the class.
Kay Ivey was a student leader at Auburn. She spent a decade or more working with the legislature as the lobbyist for the Alabama Commission on Higher Education; then ran for and was elected State Treasurer and served eight years. She then was elected Lt. Governor where she served six years. She has been governor, now, for almost six years.
Twinkle Cavanaugh has been on a leadership track since her high school years in Montgomery. She became Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party at a young age and has been President of the Public Service Commission for over a decade. She is the hardest working political figure in office in Alabama with a hardcore grassroots organization.
Katie Britt also won our U.S. Senate seat the old fashioned way. She worked hard and built a statewide grassroots organization that will hold her in good stead for years to come.
All three of these ladies are conservative, yet rational and reasonable leaders. They are exemplary of Southern grace, yet decisive and disciplined and dignified. They are people we can be proud of and excellent role models. All three are Alabama born and bred and know the folks of Alabama. All three are closely aligned with and have proudly been supported by Alabama’s premier and most powerful and respected political organization, the Alabama Farmers Federation (Alfa).
Currently, two of the most prominent jurists on the Alabama State Supreme Court are females. Justices Kelli Wise and Sarah Stewart grace the Court. I can see our Supreme Court in Alabama, as well as the United States Supreme Court, being majority female in future years. The majority of law students and graduates throughout the country are female. Women will dominate this profession in the next decade, if not already.
The State Senate has two very prominent female leaders. The most powerful and proficient is veteran Mobile State Senator Vivian Figures. Senator April Weaver from Bibb/Shelby is on a fast track in the Alabama Senate.
Another sign of women taking their rightful place in the Alabama Legislature is the takeover of Republican House Seats in the Shelby and Baldwin County Republican suburban districts. There were five new Republican women in these two Republican bastions that all took seats previously held by older men. Susan Dubose and Leigh Hulsey will be joining three females from Baldwin County. All three of the Baldwin County GOP seats will be held by female Republicans including Jennifer Fidler, Donna Givens, and Frances Holk-Jones. Representative Cynthia Almond (R-Tuscaloosa), a relative newcomer, is a star on the horizon.
Three of the most prominent leaders in the House of Representatives are women. Representative Margie Wilcox of Mobile is in a leadership position. Representative Ginny Shaver of Cherokee County works extensively on family and adoption issues. Representative Terri Collins of Morgan County is the education guru in the Alabama House.
Speaking of education, our Alabama State Board is currently made up of eight female members and only one man. This eight to one female majority really becomes nine to one because Governor Kay Ivey serves as ex officiate Chairman of the Board of Education.
So, folks, as you can see, women rule in Alabama politics and my guess is that this trend will not diminish in years to come.
See you next week.
January 4, 2023 - Two New U.S. Senators for Alabama
Richard Shelby walked out of the U.S. Senate this week after 36 years. Walking out with him is almost all of Alabama’s seniority and power in Washington.
Seniority equates into power in the Halls of Congress, especially in the Senate. National publications have illustrated the fact that Alabama has benefited more than all 50 states from federal earmarked funds due to one man, Richard Shelby.
It will be impossible to replace Shelby. His legacy will last for generations, especially in Huntsville, Birmingham, all defense facilities in Alabama, and the new docks he built in Mobile. There has been no senator that brought more federal dollars to their state, unless it was Robert Byrd of West Virginia.
You would think that we would be what some say, “up the creek without a paddle.” We are a state that depends on federal defense dollars, and we have zero seniority in the U.S. Senate. Our senior Senator, Tommy Tuberville, has two years seniority and our junior Senator, Katie Britt, has zero years. That probably makes us 50th in seniority in the senate.
However, I contend that our freshman senators, Tuberville and Britt, are the best and right choices for this time. First of all, they will work together as a team. They like each other and deeper than that, Tuberville’s people covertly and almost overtly campaigned for Katie Boyd Britt. She well knows that and appreciates it.
Primarily, Tuberville’s and Katie Britt’s personalities will prevail to Alabama’s advantage. They both have larger than life gregarious, vivacious, winning personalities and in a 100-member body, this is admired, respected, and appreciated. You have some pretty big personalities and egos in that 100 member elite chamber.
Shelby has shared with me in past years that you can recognize the prima donnas and show horses, who are running for president, immediately. Then there are those that want to be a long term, effective workhorse senator for their state. The first group immediately starts looking for a TV camera to get in front of. The second group are finding their offices, making friends, building a solid staff and jockeying for committee assignments that help them be effective for their state.
Katie Britt Boyd will be greeted and treated like a rockstar. She is young and looks even younger than she is. She is a very articulate and attractive media subject. However, if you know Katie, she will not be swayed by this allure from the national media. She is grounded and has already made inroads with the senate GOP establishment leadership and will be rewarded with surprisingly powerful committee assignments. She will settle in to being in Washington as a Senator for Alabama rather than a show horse.
Tuberville is now our senior U.S. Senator. When he ran and won two years ago, most of us thought it was a whim, something he wanted to do in his later years. When you first meet him, you can gather that he is a very patriotic fellow. He is doing this for the right reason. He truly wants to serve his country.
Tuberville, from the get-go, fell in love with politics. He campaigned. Especially, one-on-one. But, when he got to the senate, it has been like Katie bar the door. Folks, he likes it and the other Republican senators like him. He has really fit in. He has the brightest, happiest contented smile on his face. He looks 10 years younger than his 68 years. He is always around his GOP senate buddies. He votes totally with the Republican caucus and does not seek fanfare. He knows the golden rule of politics, “Your word is your bond,” and, “You dance with those who brung you.”
He knew the Alabama Farmers’ Federation (Alfa) was an integral part of his election. His first allegiance was to gravitate to committees that could help Alabama farmers as well as Alabama military veterans. He has put together a good staff. It will not surprise me if Coach runs for another six year term in 2026.
The aforementioned Alfa Farmers’ Federation is the most important lobbying group in the state with our two U.S. Senators. Alfa early and ardently supported both Tommy Tuberville and Katie Boyd Britt. Their endorsement of Britt and Tuberville were pivotal and instrumental to their wins. Both know it.
Another young man named Paul Shashy was an integral part of both Britt’s and Tuberville’s campaigns.
We may be in better shape in the senate than some think.
See you next week.
December 28, 2022 - Richard Shelby Coming Home
Our iconic Senior United States Senator, Richard Shelby, will walk out of the Senate chambers in Washington, D.C. next week and come home to retirement in Tuscaloosa. History will reveal Senator Shelby as Alabama’s greatest U.S. Senator, especially when it comes to bringing home the bacon to the Heart of Dixie. To say Shelby is the greatest is saying a mouthful, because we have had some great ones. Shelby will rest along with the likes of John Bankhead, John Sparkman, Lister Hill, and Howell Heflin. He has served longer in the Senate than any Alabamian in state history – 36 years. He served eight years in Congress before beginning his senate tenure in 1986.
Many of you have perceived, and correctly so, that I admire and appreciate the accomplishments of Senator Shelby. A good many of you will be glad to see me stop writing such glowing things about him. Over the years many of you have accused me of actually being his press secretary. My favorite restaurant is the historic Bright Star in Bessemer. A good many Tuscaloosans, especially older ones, Shelby’s contemporaries and friends and neighbors drive up to eat at the Bright Star. Invariably, they will ask me to come over to their table to visit. They always say, “you sure do like Richard Shelby.”
Many of them are familiar with the fact that we are also friends. We have, indeed, been political friends and confidantes for close to four decades. This does not take away from the fact that in my humble opinion, he is Alabama’s greatest Senator. The facts speak for themselves.
In Washington, Shelby is considered royalty with omnipotent power. He is treated like a king. Shelby has served in the Senate alongside eight different presidents. He has been more powerful than the last three. He has controlled the federal purse strings. Therefore, national political pundits know the political golden rule, ‘those that have the gold make the rules. Presidents, congressional leaders, and especially powerful lobbyists, treat Shelby with deference akin to royalty. When he enters a room, people stare and stand up. This is especially true when he enters any famous Washington restaurant. The maître de has assigned him the best table. When he enters the fine dining establishment, every head turns to see which million dollar a year lobbyist has been bestowed the honor of dining and visiting with the king, Richard Shelby. Other lobbyists will reserve a table next to him to simply be able to say they sat next to him.
However, when Shelby comes home to Tuscaloosa next month to the home he and his wife Annette have shared in the Druid City for over 50 years, his peers and neighbors will just call him Dick Shelby. “A setting sun sets off very little heat,” and a “prophet is not recognized in his own country,” “familiarity breeds contempt,” and “Alabama is just a big front porch,” all of these admonitions will ring true for ole Shelby. However, I do not think he will mind. Even though he has lived his life as a public person – eight years in the state senate, eight years in congress and 36 years in the U.S. Senate – he is a private person and really enjoys his time with Annette. He will very much enjoy his anonymity.
This coming home to rest in obscurity has played out throughout the years with our Washington giants. Old timers in Jackson County say that the legendary, powerful, Tennessee Valley Congressman, Bob Jones, in his retirement would go into a restaurant to eat in Scottsboro by himself and nobody would hardly know him.
I was friends with Senator Howell Heflin, who we all called “Judge.” After 18 years in the Senate, Judge came home to the Quad Cities. He would ask me to come up to visit with him and talk politics, which I gladly did. We would go to breakfast or early lunch at a downtown restaurant, which doubled as a coffee club gathering place in Tuscumbia. We would walk in, and they would nod, and he would speak, but they would not make a fuss over the former, powerful, U.S. Senator. In fact, I am not sure some of them even knew who he was. Tuscaloosa is a bigger place than Scottsboro or Tuscumbia, so Shelby will be private.
In the meantime, Alabamians will soon begin to realize what immense power Shelby had in Washington.
See you next week.
December 21, 2022 - The McMillan’s of Baldwin County
Alabama has a treasured history of famous political families. Many of the legacies are of father and son dynasties. The most prominent being the famous and powerful Bankheads of Jasper, which included a U.S. Senator, John Hollis Bankhead, and sons, Senator John H. Bankhead and Speaker of the U.S. House William Bankhead.
There is a long line of fathers and sons who both served in the state senate. We have had one father-son governor legacy. James E. “Big Jim” Folsom, was governor in the 1940’s and 1950’s. His son, Jim Folsom, Jr., was governor in the 1990’s. Little Jim was literally born in the Governor’s Mansion during his daddy, Big Jim’s first term as governor, 1946-1950.
During this generation there are two brothers from Baldwin County, who have made history. John and Steve McMillan have left a mark on Alabama political history. Decades from now, people will look at these twin brothers and say they have contributed a lot to Alabama. Yes, John and Steve are twins, both born on July 6, 1941.
Steve and John McMillan have deep family roots in Baldwin County. Before Alabama was even a state their ancestors settled in the Stockton Community near Bay Minette, which is where they call home. Their family is in the timber business.
Steve represented his home area in the Alabama House of Representatives for 43 years. The Baldwin County we see today as the fastest growing suburban county in the state was not the same Baldwin County they were born into 81 years ago. It was a large, sparsely populated, agricultural county. As fourth graders we would read that it was the potato growing county of the state. John remembers getting out of school for almost a month in the fall to help harvest potatoes when he was in high school.
John and Steve’s ancestors were not only the early leaders of Baldwin County but also of the state. Their great grandfather, John Murphy, was Governor of Alabama. John was named for him.
John M. McMillan, Sr., John and Steve’s father, was an outstanding civic and church leader and also served 30 years on the Baldwin County school board
Our current John Murphy McMillan graduated from high school in Bay Minette then went to Rhodes College in Memphis where he graduated with honors.
John was serving as county commissioner when he was elected to the state legislature in 1974. He was reelected in 1978. However, two years later, Governor Fob James chose John to serve in Fob’s cabinet as Alabama’s Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources. It was under his watch that the state created the Alabama Trust Fund, a plan that saved all revenues from leases on offshore oil operations. This fund has grown from the original investment of just over $400 million to a sum approaching $4 billion.
In 1985, John McMillan became the Chief Executive Officer of the Alabama Forestry Association. He served as head of that powerful statewide association for 20 years. In 2010, John was elected the 29th State Agriculture Commissioner. He was reelected, overwhelmingly in 2014. Thus, serving eight successful years from 2011-2019 in this very important statewide office.
In 2018, he was elected Alabama State Treasurer. He served successfully in this post through late 2021, when he left to become the head of the newly created Cannabis Commission.
Steve McMillan, being John’s twin brother, had pretty much the same childhood as John. They grew up together in Stockton and worked on their uncle’s farm and family sawmill. Steve went on to Auburn University where he graduated with honors. He came back home and started a real estate business, along with overseeing their family timberland.
When John became Conservation Director, Steve was elected to the House seat John vacated. Steve served in that seat for 43 years. Steve was quiet effective voice for his beloved Baldwin County. He passed away in April.
Steve was a very diligent and well prepared legislator. He was extremely conservative and was always on the side of the business community. He was dignified, but if you got to know him, very witty. He was not flamboyant and would seldom go to the well and speak. Yet, when he did, people listened. He exuded class and epitomized the term gentleman.
The McMillan brothers of Baldwin County have made their mark on Alabama Political history.
See you next week.